November | 2013 | Notre Dame Photography

With a roster of 13 players, lucky 13 seems like an appropriate theme for the Fighting Irish women’s basketball team this year and I was the lucky one who had the opportunity to photograph them for their 2013-14 poster.

I transported my “big” (studio) lights, a 12-foot seamless backdrop and lighting equipment into a racquetball court at the Joyce Center to create a private studio for the shoot.

Many of the players are over 6-feet tall, making me acutely aware of my petite size. While photographing the beautiful, 6’4” freshman, Diamond Thompson, my colleague, Liz Harter joked when I held my hand up to instruct Thompson to look up, it was actually down for her. Sigh!

I also had the pleasure of working along side the video crew from Big Screen Network. They too came in several hours before the shoot to set up high-tech lighting and video gear. With BSN’s lights and fog machine in place, I simply stepped in and shot a few stills in between their videotaping. If only it were always that simple!

Here is a sample of what I captured.

Barbara Johnston